More of the Sunshine State will soon be powered by the sun itself.

Florida Power & Light executives held a commissioning ceremony on Monday, introducing three new solar energy facilities -- one of which is in Manatee County.

  • In the next 18 months FLP plans to add 8 new solar plants
  • The first three plants will power 45,000 homes
  • Manatee, Desoto and Charlotte counties will each get a plant

The local facility is two miles long and generates 74.5 megawatts of power.

"These are big sites," explained CEO Eric Silagy. "We're driving the cost down, and they're producing a lot of clean and renewable energy everytime the sun comes up and we live in Florida so fortunately that's often."

The three facilities, which also includes plants in Desoto and Charlotte counties, can power up to 45,000 housholds.

Florida Power & Light doesn't plan to stop there. Over the next 18 months, they plan to build eight additional facilities across the state. Three of those locations will be Alachua, Putnam and Desoto counties, while the additional five locations have not yet been released.

The effects are trickling down into homes and buisinesses across the state.

"The solar plants, natural gas plants, and other investments that we're making is going to make it cheaper and more affordable for customers using our energy," said Bill Orlove with FPL.

The plant in Manatee County is projected to cost about $130 million.